Is Cupid Green?
by Kasan Soulblade
Summary: This is the story of how Kratos and Anna came together, or rather how a green furred someone made them come together.
1. Prolouge

"What did you just say?"

"I called you an egocentric homicidal maniac, didn't you just hear me?

The man in dark clothes felt his jaw sag open in shock. Never in his life had anyone ever spoken to him in that tone, had dared to so much as imply those words. Yet this woman, his supposed slave, met his gaze with no fear and had said those very words. No smile curled the woman's slender lips, no sparkle danced in her brown eye warning him that he was being the brunt of her strange humor, there was absolutely no joking in her manor. She was dead serious, and considering the power he wielded she could have very well been dead at that point. He could strike her down, many more before her had known this, had allowed it to rule their lives. She was ignoring this little fact, a very stupid move on her part. He continued to walk alongside her in the hall, while they walked he toyed with his sword a bit, and she made a sound of scorn at his back.

Fine if she wanted to ignore subtlety then he'd be direct. He stopped, turned to face her.

"I think you forget that is it _I_ who dictate whether or not you continue to live."

She glared at him, or rather at the one eye that she could see under the wild mess of dark red hair that obscured his face,

"How can I?" Her scowl marred the simple beauty of her heart shaped face. "You wont let a day pass without reminding me."

" I only make a point of saying it when you step over the line Ms. Anna."

"Well then you have too many lines then don't you?"

He gritted his teeth, her bravery was sorely misplaced, in any other situation she would have died. Any other head of a Ranch, any other person in _this_ Ranch would have killed her just for her tongue. He had to admit the thought was tempting right now, his ethics though would now allow for it.

"I do not have "too many lines" as you put it, you merely lack any capability for self restraint."

"What did you just say?"

"Amazing our roles are reversed."

"Sh..shut up!"

"Yes, please do."

He turned with a melodramatic sweep of his cloak he turned from her, and almost choked as his cloak was firmly stepped on.

"We aren't done just yet!"

He coughed, caught his breath, and whirled on the girl, glaring bloody daggers at the woman.

"As a matter of fact," He snatched the edge of his purple cloak and gave a sharp tug. She staggered back, caught herself with a hand on the steel wall and returned his dagger glare with one of her own. "We are done. Do your job slave, then retire to my quarters when it is complete. I hardly need an escort through the ranch, I assume you can find your way back on your own?"

"I hardly need you to show me back!" She flared, her eyes shrunken down to slits.

"Good, then get out."

She hurmphed, turned on her heel and strode down the hall with a confident step that seemed ill suited a slave. As she walked off he wondered, where ever she had picked up that annoying habit of hurmphing? It grated on his nerves, she knew that, she must know that. That must be why she was doing it all the time now.

It didn't even occur to him until after he was back in his own office leafing through various documents left by Forcystus where she really had picked up that habit. He must have made the sound at least six times while going through the various excuses and petty whining all captured on paper. It was on the sixth time that he realized he was making the sound, and thinking of that sound made him think of her...

Safe that no one would see him in this modest office he had made for himself, he smiled a little bit. It was just the ever so slight curling of the lips as he considered the ironies of fate, then he set the ironies of fate out of his thoughts and picked up another page detailing the policies of the kill quota. Damned paper work, next time Yggdrasil wanted someone to play Cardnel for him Kratos vowed that he would find some excuse to worm out of it, even if he had to go so far as to break Noishe's wi- no leg... Noishe was no longer a Hawk, but a very strange dog in his current incarnation. That was why he had to endure the slaves attitude, her tongue, he needed her to take care of the puppy shaped protozoan until he was free of this tedious duty that Yggdrasil had thrust upon him. When that was over he would be free to do as he pleased, free to wander around as he willed. It would be nice, he decided, to take something on the lines of a vacation before the Regeneration journey. He had not so much as taken a day off for a century, certainly he was a little over due for one now.

With that somewhat pleasing thought Kratos attacked the next few pages, but the contents of the documents soon drained his good humor out of him. As they always did.

"If this is so right then why does it feel so wrong?"

Kratos wondered on that for a while then he firmly dismissed the thought. He tried to go back to the reading but it slithered around in his brain and would not be put to rest.


	2. Anna's Memories

To readers,

CIG is not a dead/one short fic, it's just comming along very slowly as is everything else. I'm trying to work on all my fics at once so things are going a little slow for a while, but you all know how that is.

Kasan Soulblade

Reveiwer Response:

Moon Cannon:)

FairyV: All will be explained in latter chapters, this si just an Anna character establishment chapter.

Homocidal Snowbunnnies: Thanks... this story hasn't been updated in forever so I figured I should remeady that hope you like the update.

Chapter two

She remembered a dream, an escape, and hope... They seemed so distant now but she remembered them, they hung about her like a gentle mist, like a cloak of her past...

I look at the wings of a bird and beg it to come down and take me from this place. I walk amongst stars and touch the heavens in the stilness behind closed lid. My fingers tangle amongst the wings of angels, my soul sings of flight and freedom with just a touch of danger to add spice to it all. Though this breath may be my last I hold no regrets, my heart no longer aches in it's emptyness but overflow in it's fullness.

That was her dream, in all her years it was her only dream, sur-real childish she knew that, but it was all she had. It was a poisen that destracted her from duty, from work, and made her less useful and therefore in more danger. But still she held onto it, that dream that could never come to pass. She nursed it to her breast with an air of quiet desperation, it was her last defense against the crushing reality around her. Anna smiled, banished aside and hope with a shake of her head. Godess she was such a little girl, in that Mother was right, she waited a futile wait for her knight to come in his shinning armor and save her. She laughed, a rare sound in a world that seemed devoid of laughter. Her sisters looked up at her, rolled there eyes and went back to their monotonious labors. In front of Anna lay leather armor, she was supposed to be stiching it together, binding it together with the thick needle and thread in her hands. She had wasted all of a moment recalling her dream, and a shadow fell over her.

A thin ghost of a shadow that belonged to a thin ghost of a woman.

"Anna, why aren't you working?"

He sibs seemed to sink deeper in thier work, focused on the task before them with a forced intensity. Beter to look away, to not see what was coming. Anna turned, stared into that sunken face marked with wrinkles. She met those steely eyes and proudly lifted her head, a strength given to her by her dream. She was too honest to lie, and really what was the point in lieing? The hag never missed anything, so there was no point in denial.

"I was Mother, I just took a few seconds to rest my hands and find some humor in my thoughts."

"Humor has no place here, you are to work and nothing more... Entertain yourself on your own time."

"And what time is that mother? From sun up to sun set we work, what time is our own?"

She bit her tongue, cursed herself, she had gotten so close to avoiding a beating and now all but asked for one with that coment. Yet the cane did not fall, those cold lifeless eyes stared at her, scrutinized her with a long moment.

"Get back to work Anna, and when sun set's I want to see you in my room."

Anna gulped, all courage abandoned her. She shook, recalled the last time she had been called into mother's room to be disapleaned. She had ordered a mock exile, had ordered everyone to ignore her, to not speak with her, her meals had to be eatten outside and had been half of that everyone else ate. For a month she had lived like that, alone and not alone, she could not bare another span of exile...

Shivering Anna went back to her tasks, and prayed that she was wrong, that there would be no exile, and the dream she had so held to her showed it's fangs at taht moment. This was the cost of holding onto such hope, punishment.

Hope and punishment in the steamy room that reeked of dyes and leather walked hand in hand.

xxx xxx xxx

"Child my child, what am I to do with you?"

The voice was little mroe then a croon, a soft sight of a mother scolding a little for spilling food upon itself. Anna shivered, she knew what that tone ment for her. She ahd been hearing it all her life it seemed, and it was not so gentle a sound as an outsider might think. Anna's mother sat in a chair of softest leather in the house. A blanket of white cotten was wrapped around her skelital frame and she looked at her from her shroud of false cloud with a strange unreadable expression. Her cane lay besides her, propped against the side of the chair, in easy reach. She had beckoned her daughter to sit on the rug at her feet in the manner of a very young child. Eighteen years in age Anna found the gesture insulting but knew better then to protest anything, not with that cane in her mother's reach.

"You are unruley, refuse to toe in line, and while your work is impecable it takes the staff to drive you to do it. It is the way of the Goddess to be humble, to not rise above yourself, and yet you always do by clinging to such... childishness."

"If I'm a child aren't I entitled to have some streaks of childishness in me?" Anna protested, and she flinched back when those eyes bore into her. There was no outburst of anger, not sharp decent of cane through the air. Her mother did frown though, adding more lines to the mess of lines that served as her face.

"Suiting and excusable for a child baring half your years, yes. But age should make you outgrow such foolishness... that and the great responsibility you are to bare."

"Responsibility?" Anna frowned, confused, and a chill wind caressed her and set her back to developing goosebumps.

"As oldest female in this family it is your duty to bare the blood of out decendents, to carry on the line."

"Mother I'm not the oldest Autumn is the eldest..."

Her mother's eyes nerrowed, her anger beat on Anna with a ferocity that leaked into the woman's tone. Rebelious Autumn, the girl who had slipped out with a man not of the trade was not talked about by anyone in the family by her Mother's order. The old woman continued, pertending to not hear the comment. "The men see that the name goes on and it is your duty to see that the blood does not fail. Of course to do that you must marry someone of suitable position. A tanner or armorer, someone in either line of work would be acceptable."

"Married? Mother you can't be serious?" Anna rose to her feet, her long sleeve shirt and pants rustled about her.

"It is time, you are old enough, I have already contacted those of suitable position and have gotten several promising responses. Of course you know how to pick the man, I've taught you that."

Anna's tongue betrayed her then. "Mother, I don't want to get married, not for money or for a craft!"

"Your wishes are irrelevent." The old woman snapped. "It's time you grew up and accepted the reality of your situation. I will have a list of names prepared and we will discuss them and proper ediquite tomorrow."

Tears burned behind Anna's eyes a stream of bitter words, protests boiled in her, she said none of them, would not give the woman that satisfaction. Turning on her heal she fled, ran down the stairs and into the cold winter outside.

When she composed herself she went to the one sanctuary still left to her, if only for a little time. She went to her room in the barrack like quarters everyone but mother shared. It was empty, and for once Anna was glad for it. She threw herself on the matress, closed her eyes and against her will tears leaked out. She sobbed quietly, did not hear the door open nor see Viss slip in. A warm hand on her shoulder made her look up, she tried to smile, tried to hide her pain. Viss gently wrapped her hand around her shoulders and that was enough, the last bit of her self control vanished and with a shudder she alowed her younger sister to envelop her in a hug and cried on that offered shoulder like a young child.

"It's expected, our family honor hinges upon it." Viss pointed out, she pulled a comb through her older sister's hair a frown on her face. She had thought Anna hurt, scared, or suffering from one of her horrible nightmares. This situation though left the younger girl in confusion, Anna should have been overjoyed, she should have been happy, not in tears. Viss had sugested 'prettying up' her sister, a game they had played as children and an exercise they now went through to sooth each other's frayed nerves from time to time. "There's nothing wrong with it and Mother is only following protocal."

"But I don't want to marry someone for her, I want to love the person I'm married to not..."

"Anna." Viss sighed, lightly smacked her older sister with the comb. "Mother is right you need to grow up. Knights only come for you in stories, there isn't going to be a man who will save you from reality, and Goddess knows there's nothing that we can do. Even entertaining such thoughts is immoral and against the writ of the Goddess."

Anna stood, ignored the squeak of protest from Viss, she turned on her younger sister. They both shared the same long silk brown hair and both had those dark eyes. Both had heart shaped faces, they could have been twins they looked so much the same. But there was a difference. No anger lines marred Viss' face. She was always calm, collected, and obediant to the Goddess and their Mother in word and spirit. Years and years of frusteration had seemingly marked Anna with a pernament scowl line between her eyes, and where Viss' eyes were soft, gentle, docile, and totally empty of a original thought Anna's were a shocking contrast. Fire burned behind Anna's eyes, passion, hope, and she sported a rebelious streak that had left it's mark as a scar on her arm and a handful of scars running across her back. Or rahter that had been her mother's mark, as the old woman tried to drive it out of her.

Anna had not been the most cooperative person when it came to being broken and docile. Her fire was to deep, to intense for one cruel tyrant to drive it out of here.

"If the Goddess didn't want us to feel this way why would she allow it?"

Viss frowned, what Anna said sounded like sacrelige, but she couldn't tell where it was.

"If she doesn't want me to be like this then why am I like this, if I'm such a freak in her eyes then why does she allow me to exist?"

"You aren't a freak... you're special that's all." Viss protested weakly, she didn't quite like the way Anna's eye twitched ever so slightly.

"Ung you're hopeless!" Anna stormed to the door, stormed out of thier small room that they shared.

"Anna you're not supposed to go outside during night, it's an unholy hour filled with..."

The door opened and closed with a loud band. Anna went outside not carring to hear the rest of what her sister had to say. Not carring to hear Mother's words parroted back at her.

xxx xxx xxx xxx

"I can't stay here." Anna whispered to the cold winter night. It was not cold or wet enough for snow but it still was very chilly outside. "I can't I can't I'll die here if I stay."

Anna paced the length of the work shop, a habit she had picked up from Goddess knew where. her thoughts seemed to organize themselves, her feelings sorted themselves in their proper when a cool breeze caressed her and she was on her feet. The building she walked alongside was still, no longer did smoke boil from it or fires light it's windows like knowledge that would glint in the eyes. The building was like some great wooden dragon, it slept through the night and it would no longer produce smoke and fire till the next morning when mortal hand woke it. She pitied the person who would have to light the fires, pitied the person who would have to take her load of work, and it was then that she realized something. Though she stood withen the bounds of her mother's land, though she stood in the shadow of where she'd spent the bulk of her life she was not there. Not in heart and not in soul. She reached for that information, expected it to hurt, burn, like some great wound would.

There was no pain, only a belated understanding.

"It's time," She whispered to the night. "It's more then time."

xxx xxx xxx xxx

She vaulted over the wall, frozen grass crackled under her feet as she landed. She laughed as her feet slid under her, caught herself on the wooden wall and looked out to the world. It was cold and she shivered in response to that cold. She had stolen one of her mother's beter fur coats, she now wore pouches slung across her belt filled with food and water, a knife more suited for carving then battle hung from a makeshift hilt at her side. Knife, preperation, and garb proclaimed her as much an outcaste as her actions. She had forsaken the traditional paths, insteed of allowing a man or her family to care for her she was now caring for herself. That thought alone made her smile, she was on her own, free from her past, free to go where she pleased.

Yet the wood to her back, the wooden fence with the insigna of her family on every plank made her freedom into a lie.

She pushed off of the wall, took a few steps across the silver tinted grass that would have been green save the gentle influence of star and moonlight. The shadows stretched in front of her, around her, they laced together like interwoven fingers obscuring the paths of the forest. Forsaken paths, a demons walk, that was what her sibs and mother would have called those shadow choked roads. Those roads that were marked and unmarked and filled with the unknown that stretched before her, pulled on her. Anna though did not feel that way at all, the darkness hid adventure, whole new roads, paths untouched that were all there for any wanderer with enough nerve to take that first step. She had more then enough nerve, had more then enough want, and as the winds of the night stired about her she chuckled. With a rich laugh she ran into that darkness, turned her back on the light and ran into the shadows making paths of her own.

Some time later she lay under the bare branched trees to sleep her cloak and coat bound around her, served as a blanket. The stars for a time would help her forget her troubles, they moved to their own heartbeat, flecks of silver along the obsidian back of some great creature mortals dubbed night. They did not seem forlorn though they hung in the shadows alone, and she shared a kindred spirit with them because of that. She had wandered for the first long night, a cold and weary walk where she stumbled through the silver streaked darkness in some random direction. She was not seasoned to the road, did not know what stars to follow for guildence, and in frusteration she just picked the easyest one to spot. It was red, the only red star in the sky, and so she followed it hoping that it would take her to some city or town.

As dawn blocked her eyes from the stars she sought her sleep under the branches of a great tree with dark brown bark. And that was where she was now, looking at the stars hoping the one she picked would take her to a town. That red one seemed to be winking down at her, taking smug enjoyment in her being lost.

"Hurmph, last time I follow you!" She growled at the star, it only continued to twinkle like a lost ruby. For a long moment Anna entertained the idea of taking a different route, of picking a star that lay on the other side of the night sky then the rouge ruby. She laughed at herself, at the star, no that was 'not' an option to go in any other direction would only make her go back where she did not want to go. Back to her mother's home. "Fine fine..." She mock growled at the sky, nibbling on a piece of bread that was serving as her dinner. "One more night, that's all I'll give you but if I take one more step in a rabbit hole or get in trouble I will never fallow you again!"

The star was so greatly moved by her words that it continued to flickure as it had before and Anna laughed at her own sillyness.

Goddess it felt good to laugh, to smile now that she could! At her old home she had been forbidden to show joy, it was frowned down upon as disruptive. Now, alone she could be herself, could be as she always wanted to be with no fear of punishment. So long as she had life in her Anna planned to live just as she did now. Taking joy in all the things that she could, laughing at her problems and at the world which seemed in need of someone to not take it so damn seriously. Wiping the crumbs from her hands, from her face, the young woman found her feet. It wasn't getting any earlyer, and her curiosity was pulling on her coaxing her forward. With a glance to the heavens she spotted her star then began, as the night before, to follow it and see what destinty it held for her.

xxxx xxx xxx xxx

And look at destiny and how it held her now! She sighed, sunk down in her own misery, what had happened to that freedom, to that joy? It was drained out of her and again she was faced with the unending frusteration of captivity. Noishe whinned at her feet, licked at the one hand that hung limp at her side. She smiled at the dog, it was a bright mint green along the back with same colored tufts of fluff around that scrawny throat. the fluf kind of looked like a child's bib, and the blob of green on Noishe's head was outragously funny. She chuckled as that wild fur fell into the little puppies eyes and then lifted him up and held him like she would a child. He barked, his fluffy tail more suited to a fox then a dog smacked against her arms and he craned his tiny neck to lick her on the chin.

"Oh Noshy what did I do to get captured again?" She looked at the bare steel walls with a desperation that she had looked at the wooden walls of her Mother's work shop. "Ung now I remember, I'm the idiot who snuck up behind that Kvar bastard and whapped him with a tree branch in a crazy attempt to save some people from Luin."

Noishe whinned and Anna laughed at that comical little face that she could have sworn looked at her in interest.

"Oh no I'm not telling that story I was so stupid back then you would not believe it."

"Whine... whine?" He licked her face again and gave her puppy eyes, and being a puppy he was very skilled at it.

"Oh alright, at least I'll have someone to talk to while I pick up after his royal slobbyness."

Noishe barked, and it sounded like a laugh. She sighed, set the dog down and after a quick search found a feather duster and looked at the few pieces of furniture in the room. She frowned at the desk, the small tables, chairs, and the lone couch, the only piece of furniture in the one room she was permitted to be in that had pillows. To see the rest of Kratos' house one would have to pass through a hall where a mess of doors lead into different rooms. All those doors, save the ones leading to the bathroom and kitchen, were locked. It was one of her duties was of clean up the room, but it seemed reduculious, there was no mess in here, everything was spotless. Anna then recalled Kratos' cold glittering eyes when he had explained her duties as his servent. She knew without him having to spell it out for her that everything had better stay spotless and organized or she would find herself back in one of the cells in the basement of the ranch. Yet a cage was a cage whether the bars could be seen or were invisible she was still trapped. To distract herself from that grim reality she launched into the story of how she had encountered Kvar and his patrol as they returned from a raid of Luin. And when Anna got to the part where she gleefully described Kvar's face as the branch smashed into his face and broke his nose she imagined a certain aurburn haired someone on the recieving end of that branch with Kvar. While malicious enjoyment was not exactly the best thing to wollow in it was better then the alternative, so she wollowed and Noishe didn't seem to mind a bit. His tail wagged thorugh the air like a banner behind him and he seemed to laugh where it was appropriet to laugh and he pracned under her feet literally getting underfoot a time or two while she worked. Not that Anna minded, it was nice, she decided as she put up the cleaning rags and dumped the fouled water into the kitchen sink, to have someone friendly to talk to. Even if that someone couldn't quite talk back. She eyed the couch in the main room, eyed it with a witsful desperation of someone who was tired. She was always tired now, with that rock in her throat and arm she had always been tired. She yawned, well there was one proven way to deal with that tiredness.

She went to the couch, threw herself onto it with no care for how it creaked. She patted her knee and Noishe managed a hop. Little fore paws caught the edge of the couch and hind kicked at the side. Anna smiled, picked the small puppy by his scruff and plopped him down by her feet.

Noishe would have none of that, he whinned, padded across the couch. Anna closed her eyes, felt little paws travel over her leg and a small bundle of fluff pounce on her stomach. She grunted, but said nothing as Noishe curled up onto a little ball of fur and paws over her belly. What the heck, she'd endured cold winter nights with only her coat and snearing Desians who had hurt her, five pounds on her stomach was nothing compared to all that. She smiled, scritched the dog between his ears, then with a sigh allowed herself to fall asleep.


	3. Basic Deception

Chapter 3

He had not been obeyed, he walked into his small apartment and saw what he saw everyday. The rooms were cleaned, Noishe seemed content, yet a quick glance told him Anna was not in her room. She lay on the couch and was now oblivious to the world in the way that only those who needed sleep were. She muttered something, rolled over, and as she moved her hair fell around her face. Grunting in disgust at the woman's lack of shame for sleeping out in the open he pulled off his gloves, tried to ignore the stickiness that lingered between his fingers and weighed down his tunic. He walked to the kitchen, went to the sink and turned the water on. At that sound she did not wake up, even as he noisily washed his hands and tried to clean up the mess his duties of "Cardinal" thrust on him.

Blood though did not come out with just water, his garments would need to be scrubbed.

Well that wasn't his job, his slave could deal with it. Even though he thought this, deliberately reminded himself that he had someone else to do it, his old instincts nagged him that he'd best be the one to do the job. It seemed a shame to have to expose a mere child to blood. But then she had seen worse, she had probably watched relatives and friends die from the first time she entered the steel gates of the Iselian compound.

Before this afternoon he would have shrugged it off, but her comments earlier on in their little spat had nagged at him. He decided to see if he really was living with his head up his ass, if he really was seeing the realities around him. Even thinking of that vulgar statement, of the woman who had dared to say that to him roused his anger, but that anger was tempered now. It was tempered with remorse, with disgust, and with the knowledge that she was probably right.

Well at least the rapes were going to stop, he had set out orders that such practices were to not be pursued while he was head of the ranch. His orders had been flouted and he had to make several _demonstrations _to fix that.

The demonstrations had been rather messy, hence the condition of his clothes.

He fished his gloves out of the sink, tossed them on the counter. They slapped wetly against the cheap material -plastic he thought- and lay there pooling red water. He took a few steps back, peered into the small study he had made, and a quick glance inside told him the woman was still asleep.

It was as safe as it ever was he supposed.

He went back to the sink, pealed off his tunic, and tossed it in the sink. He allowed the water to run over it, in an attempt to loosen up the blood, then despite how his instincts cried out he left the mess in the sink. She could think him the slob if that was her will, not that he cared, so long as she did something about it...

A fuzzy lump rubbed against his foot, and brown eyes looked up at him in hope. Noishe whined, wagged his fluffy tail, and lead him to the small dinning table he had set out to tend to appearances. A small covered plat was laid out on the center of the table, and for a moment anger towards the woman rose in him. Didn't she have the foresight to put the dog's food on the floor? If she didn't he was going to get her replaced, no matter Noishe's protests. He sighed, considered waking her, but he wasn't that cruel.

Well that's what he told himself, he was still as body shy as ever and the thought of him half naked with a woman staring at him made his face turn red.

To mask that discomfort he pulled the plate over to him. Noishe whined, trotted off, and came back to him with a smaller empty bowl in his jaws. The silver and green puppy put the bowl down by his feet.

"You're too damn smart to be mistaken for a dog you know. You need to learn to act dumb sometimes so that no one suspects." Kratos scolded affectionately, then he knelt, covered plate in hand. Noishe went berserk, started hopping up and down, his very essence screaming _feed me _at the top of it's lungs. It was when Kratos had trouble unfastening the cunningly placed lid that the first suspicion came into place. The second was when he managed to get the lid off and saw that the plate was filled with human food. The third came when Noishe hopped up and upset the plate in his hands and the meat and potato heavy meal spilled to the floor. Unable to save the food he grasped at the plate and watched in frustration as gravity and the floor broke it in half.

The sound seemed to echo in the room, and a few muttered words from the other room told him that he was going to have company in a bit.

"Damn it Noishe that was my food, not yours!"

Noishe did n't respond he was busy stuffing his face with mashed potato and gravy that was now smeared all over the tile floor.

"Wha-... Noishe, bad dog!"

He hopped, cursed the thick carpet that muffled sound and had allowed her to sneak up on him like that while he was half dressed. Anna was ignoring him however, focused on yelling at his _dog_.

"Noishe, you stop this right now!"

A sizable chunk of meet disappeared into the protozoan's mouth.

"If you take one more bite I'll spank you!"

Another bite was taken, then another.

"That's _it _I warned you now you're in deep trouble!"

Noishe seemed intent on finishing his meal, seemed oblivious to the danger fast approaching. Her face mask like in anger Anna grabbed the protozoan's hind legs and gave him a small shove. Noishe landed in the potatoes, half of him seemed smeared in it. He was firmly taken, held by the paws like a animal tied to the split, and carried out of the room. A trail of gravy left and a series of pathetic whines marked the path. Whines turned to howls as Kratos' keen hearing picked out the sound of running water and a loud splash.

It seemed as good a time as any to make a retreat. Leaving the howling protozoan and the vindictive human to their sport Kratos went to his rooms and closed the door behind him. To feel more safe he threw the lock, and considered the food stains on his pants.

Great more laundry. He worked off the belts, threw them on the strictly ornamental bed, and stripped fully. He went to his closet, considered his other uniforms, and decided his formals were more suitable for his late night meeting anyways. It was hectic, belts and straps, yet though the process was a pain the overall effect was what he strived for. It took him a full ten minuets to work the last of it on, and when he was done he ran a hand over his silver tunic. Fierce, stern, and utterly lifeless, the clothes said that, but what made it a lie was the sounds of his companions yalps and his human servant's laughter. What was the most damning though was the slight tolerant smile on his lips.

Xxx xxx xxx xxx

"How goes your duties?"

"They come and go as all the other tasks." Kratos shrugged, moved a human paladin on his board to counter Yuan's human rouge.

"You don't find it distasteful?" Yuan put a weight on the scales, put a bar on the board, and then handed Kratos a card. Cursing his fate, or rather the _Card of Ill Fates_ Kratos took his paladin out of play.

"Lately all my tasks have been distasteful."

"The same here."

Yuan pulled a strand of blue hair out of same colored eyes. His angular half elven visage scrunched up as he considered the placement of his scouts and the _Timeless Mist_ effect Kratos had over a segment of his army. He could break the spell by sacrificing half of his scouts, or he could just let things stand. Yuan seemed torn, and was scowling so fiercely at his fellow seraphim's pieces Kratos wondered when they'd catch flame.

"Why do you always get the Sylvarant side, you have more natural resources then I do!"

"Because you favor the fact you can start with multiple classes where all I initially get are novice swordsman and youth magi." Kratos countered, then to pour salt over his "foes" injuries he used a bowman to assassinate Yuan's elf magi.

"You fight dirty." Yuan grinned, then seemed to hesitate. "How was your meting with..."

"You know how he is, tedious, grating, I feel like a recorder. 'The world is of importance despite it's contamination my Lord. Martel would wish for life itself to continue. A single one specie world would not please your sister.' Gods!" Kratos shook his head. "Every day I feel more and more like we are chasing a non existent hope, that all this..." Kratos swept his hand to indicate the room and so much more. "Was a waste..." Kratos sighed, lowered his head into his hands and looked at his oldest friend with something not quite hopelessness resignation, but something much like it.

Yuan nodded, he had no answers, not solutions, they never did. Picking up a card from his mana pool the blue haired seraph considered it and made his next move.

Xxx

Yuan of course teleported into the room and out of the room so not to invoke Anna's suspicions. He was taking many pains to hide what he was from her for the sake of getting back into practice for acting human for the next regeneration. She was talking to the Protozoan now, baby talk he thought. Since while he could hear every word, vaguely understand the language, and hear a lot of 'who's a cute little fluff-ball you are!' he figured Anna to be fooled by Noishe's act as well. He sighed, dwelt upon the fact that his whole life was no an act, his humanity an act, everything was a performance. And how he hated that fact most of all.


	4. He all but asked for it

Is Cupid Green?

Chapter 4

He asked for it…

Grumbling a few oaths at her current "master", Anna leaned over the tub and scrubbed off the white suit. It was tough, durable, but light, and glossy like an insect's wing. She'd go far enough to say that the blasted stuff was shiny, except that if he heard her saying that he'd probably kill her. He'd already had a firm "talk" about making spaghetti. He would not eat it, nor would he tolerate the smell lingering in his apartment, and finally, she was not to cook it. Well... she _could_, but that would only occur if she wanted her head cut from her shoulders. He'd then described just how a well-delivered decapitation swing went, before going over in gory detail exactly what he'd do to her body if he ever caught her looking sideways at a tomato.

Of all the threats he had made, that one felt the most sincere -- and the most terrifying. She had hastened to throw out all the tomatoes in his kitchen and he'd watched and smirked, before going into one of those little offices he was so fond of. He closed the door on her, not even bothering to fiddle with the lock. After all, who was she? She was an unarmed no one who wouldn't dare attack him.

So instead, Anna took her frustration out on the suit, scrubbing it so hard that it was a damned miracle it hadn't ripped yet.

"Whine?"

"Tell me, Noishe, is it wrong to imagine someone else in this suit's place getting dunked and rubbed against this damned metal washboard for a few hours?"

"Bark!"

"I'll take that as a no."

Anna wiped at her face, she was clean -- cleaner than she had been in the cells below. After taking one look at her, Kratos had curled his lips in disgust, ordered the fawning dog away from her ankle, and told the guards to escort her to his quarters. His first words to her had been to clean up, and to not take an hour doing so, he'd then laid out the few laws for her to follow.

Fancy long-tailed words aside, it was the same as all the others had been.

Do as I say, don't ask questions, and do it right.

The only improvement from her old situation was that he wasn't starving her and he was allowing her to keep clean.

While a Goddess sent all on its own, she sometimes wished that she wasn't getting all this preferential treatment and that she was back in the Yard. At least there she had someone to talk to. At least there things had made a little sense and there was a feeling of hope that she might escape. Here in the heart of the base, surrounded with Desians several stories above the ground, she could not feel hope. Here all hope died as odds piled against you and you could see them piling.

"Damn it." Anna threw the half-cleaned shirt in the red stained water, she blinked a few times at the specks of soap that had gotten in her eyes and were making them tear up.

"Whine?" Noishe rested his small head on her knee and Anna smiled.

"I'm fine. Noshy, don't worry about me."

"Whine…" He gently nuzzled her leg, then reared up on his small forepaws and stretched himself out as tall as he could get. On impulse, she lowered her head and he gently licked her chin.

Smiling Anna gently petted that silken furred creature. Noishe didn't seem to care that her hands were wet, and in that he was more generous than anyone else she'd ever met before. So long as he was pet from time to time, he was happy to listen and endure anything.

"I'm guessing he just petted you right and you just started following him around…" Anna chuckled, scratching the green tuft between his long fluffy ears.

He only looked up at her, licking her once, before leaving Anna to her work. If he hadn't been so small, or perhaps he if he hadn't been an animal, she might have recognized the determined stride and determined glint in the small "dog's" eyes.

X

"WHIIINEE!" Small claws scratched at his door.

Setting aside the book he was reading in order to burn away the long hours of the day, Kratos frowned, rolling off the bed that was neither soft nor hard; it was nothing, as most of the world was nothing and nothing did not touch him. Going to the keypad, Kratos tapped in a quick numeric sequence and the door slid open. Noishe looked up at him even as he looked down at the small puppy-shaped creature. Those dark brown eyes that were darker then a starless sky with a hint of steel in their depths were full of fury. The dog's tiny teeth were bared in an angry snarl. Considering how small the Protozoan was in his current incarnation, the display of rage was… well... Kratos had never thought of using the word "cute" before to describe anything. Until now, that is.

Perhaps there was a first for everything, then.

"Whine whine bark BARK!"

Kratos felt his shoulders wanting to shake, he felt his lips twitching, and it was damned hard to not start laughing in Noishe's face.

"Do you need to go for your walk?"

The green tuft head shook from left to right.

"Then why bother me?"

"Since he's your dog," the host body's voice snapped from the bathing room, "it might be that he wants some attention!"

"Ms. Anna, shut up and do your work," he snapped.

His keen ears head her muttered word of "bastard", before sounds of sloppy sounding splashes and the hiss of fabric brushing against washboard met his ears. That was what told him his clothes were being scrubbed. He could have left her with a modern magi-tech device that did all the work, but the goal was to give her as little time for herself as possible. Time gave people the opportunity to plan, to think -- the less of that she had, the easier time he had in dealing with her. If she tried to escape, she would be captured, beaten and raped several times. If she lived more than an hour or made it down to the ground floor alive, he'd have been surprised, because if the guards didn't catch her, the security devices would kill her. Not to mention the last idea he wanted her to get was for her to try to assassinate him. It was not that he had problems killing women warriors, or even crazed civilians, but Noishe had grown attached to the host body. It had taken weeks of Noishe wandering around the human ranches before the Protozoan had finally picked someone -- and going through those lines of sullen, hateful, or the worst yet: empty eyes, was not something he wanted to go through again. He held the door open and the small creature padded in. It took a bit of time, considering how small those legs were. The second Noishe was in, Kratos closed the door and went back to the bed that he kept more for Noishe's benefit then his own.

"I owe you an apology, Noishe. I've been researching, and you know how I am when I get caught up in something."

The Protozoan's only response was a squeaky growl.

Again, Kratos was fighting the urge to chuckle at that noise. Still he would not hurt his oldest friend's feelings by scorning the Protozoan's current form. That didn't rule out some well placed teasing however.

"Really, Noishe --" Kratos stared down into those sulky eyes " -- if you're going to be angry with me, wait until you are somewhat larger then a field mouse."

"Whine!"

"I apologize, you are a little larger. At least wait until you are on par with say… a cat in size before you have these fits of yours."

"Bark!"

_Hmm_... not exactly the good-humored bark he was used to hearing. Obviously, something was bothering the Protozoan deeply, as it was normally Kratos who was in a vile mood.

"Well, it's not like you can talk, so, pray tell are you going to play charades until I guess what's wrong?"

"Snarl!"

"I don't deserve that!" Kratos snapped. "Don't you dare bare those fangs at me, Noishe!"

Not only did Noishe bared his fangs, but also bit Kratos on the ankle. Checking the urge to kick the small animal shaped being off, Kratos snatched the Protozoan by the midsection and carried him to the door.

"I feel like a parent…" Kratos snapped to the small creature. "And so like a parent I will banish you from my room and presence until you are in a more civil mood."

"Bark!"

If there could be someway to insert a "fine" note in that squeaky voice, Noishe had found a way to do so. Before he was banished to spend he rest of his day with the host body, Noishe snaked his head around and bit his thumb, giving the man a rather vile glance. For such small teeth, they sank in deeply and... they hurt. Cursing, Kratos dropped the Protozoan who very wisely gave the Seraph's feet a wide berth.

"_Usta brashav! Skeli genials kavak!"_ Kratos brought the digit to his mouth and sucked on the blood that had gathered in the small lacerations.

Unfazed by an insult that would have brought both Yuan and Mithos to arms, Noishe swished his tail behind him; the motions weren't all too dissimilar to someone wiggling their butt at him - this did not please Kratos in the least.

"If you were an Aeros, I'd clip your wings for that you…"

"Noishe, lunch time!"

"You're getting off now…" Kratos hissed, his black eyes filled with anger. "But only for now. I don't know what in Efreet's Hellfire your problem is…" Kratos tapped in the code then pulled open the door. "But whatever it is, it does not give you permission to draw my blood."

"Snarl…"

It sounded like a squeak -- a mouse could have made a more threatening sound -- but rimmed with red around his snout, Noishe had proven himself to be more dangerous then any creature that Kratos had ever known. It had been the first time in what felt to be forever, since someone had drawn his blood. He slammed the door to the Protozoan's back, and going back to his book and he opened it to the exact page he had been before being interrupted. All of this was done with no fumbling or even scanning. He left a streak of red the second his finger came in contact with the page. Kratos blinked.

How long had it been since he last bled? It was when the assassin's blade had plunged into his side, and Martel had literally held him back from death's door with her mana and sheer will. It had been four thousand years ago, four hundred lifetimes, since he had last bled. He'd endured Noishe's attempts at preening his hair, had felt those hand sized talons over his shoulders for almost four millennia, and none of that had drawn blood. But now, for whatever reasons they might have, the Gods had made him bleed this day under the millimeter long teeth of a Protozoan.

"I cannot bleed, no mortal hand may draw my blood…" Kratos muttered, running his fingers together, his mind turning to the string of promises Mithos had made so long ago when he'd accepted the Cruxis crystal. Kratos had consumed the purified Aionis, and had taken the tainted Aionis and white quartz injections. Five hours after all that, he had been immersed in enough mana to kill anyone else with. Kratos had embraced immortality, shedding the weakness of his human heritage, and becoming one of the "four" Seraphim in less than quarter of a day.

In mute defiance of Mithos' words -- in defiance of Mithos' promise -- a bead of crimson widened past the lines of the cut and dripped down, staining the pure white glove red.


	5. Lonliness

_A/N: CIG is not dead... updating as much as I can. I again am w/o my computer. I was trojened, virused, and malwared, and had to re-format last night. Luckily I have back ups, but the attack destroyed three chapters of CIG, and my Shards notes, so these stories will again be slowed once more. Nasty little work that trojen-package, it destroyed my anti-spyware/virus/popupblocker first so I could not contain it or deleate it. It's handled now, but it's slowed me down a lot. Sorry guys, you know how it is..._

Is Cupid Green

Chapter 5

Most difficult task

Bored… She was bored, bored of cleaning, of petting the dog she was to take care of, bored of… everything really. All her work was done for the day so she lazily pooled on the floor, stretched out, and made a snow angel right in the center on the thick crimson carpeted floor. Noishe was so bored he watched her and yawned. He'd padded up and down the rooms he was allowed, barked at the grand cardinal's door and went in there a few minutes and had come out still bored. If the desians didn't kill her, if the sociopath swordsman with the one word vocabulary of "hurmph" didn't kill her, the boredom would.

And if it were a race to see her dead, she'd had said boredom was winning.

The water time piece dripped, she rolled over to stare at it, from one blue stone with a thin little slit at its bottom. Like an egg with its shell cracked water dripped from the blue stone, unlike an egg the contents of the stone never seemed to run out. She counted the slow steady drops. One… two… three…. Four… five…

Noishe stared at the dripping rock than started to squirm.

"Not again…" Anna groaned, Noishe only whined and looked pathetic. "You know it's distinctly undogish of you to tell me when you have to go, normal puppies just... well they _go_."

Noishe stuck his tongue out and made an "ung" sound and Anna chuckled.

"You know what to do." Anna yawned. "same old same old."

Anna closed her eyes, and supported the back of her head with the intertwined fingers of her two hands. She listened to Noishe wander off, the carpet muffled his foot falls but the stream of annoyed whines told her exactly where he was. There was an all too familiar scratch of claw on wood and the door hissed like it always did than swung open like an everyday door.

"Whine!"

"Not again…"

The fact that he just said exactly what she had just said struck her as funny, and she giggled despite the fact that her laughter always put him in an even more soar mood.

"Host body…"

"Yeah yeah, shut up, I get the idea." Anna shifted around not bothering to open her eyes, aware that this show of "laziness" would annoy him. She heard a door slam and was only aware of Kratos passing her because Noishe was whining like a crazy thing at the man's feet. That and the soft sigh of his cape stirring behind the man every step he took. His scent of steal and leather drifted by her, and the front door of the apartment opened and slammed closed just like any other door.

Well… wasn't that interesting? It was a normal door, not one of those hissing protected doors like the one that served as _his lordship's_ door. Even not voicing the title, just thinking it, made her lips curl in disgust. He was –as far as she could tell- a human, he was worse then a traitor, he was… well she couldn't think of the word but evil came close to the word she wanted to use.

Time crawled by, the stone dripped four hundred times then the door opened and the chirpy dog barked and charged right at her, leapt, and though small he was fast and it was kind of like being punched by a ball of fluff in the gut. Gasping her eyes flew open. She frowned and glared at the green and silver lump on her stomach.

"Oww Noishe that hurt…"

"Whine!" The dog's little tail wagged so frantically it swatted both of her sides.

"It's alright…" Anna reached up and stroked that little tuft between those long ears. "You're not all that heavy."

She was aware Kratos was watching her, but didn't bother to lift her gaze and meet the Cardinal's black eyes. She just scratched Noishe and waited, it wasn't much of a wait. He made a noise of disgust and walked by her, again the hint of leather and polished steal tickled her nose then the door hissed in the hall.

"How did you get stuck with a Desian, Noishe? You don't deserve that." She muttered under her breath, letting a digit run over the dog's silver jaw.

It might have been her imagination but when Kratos slammed the door behind him, it was a little harder then normal.

X

_How dare she… that…she has no right to pass judgment on me!_

Kratos muttered a few curses in the language of his homeland and proper time, snapped two fingers than pointed. The small fireplace exploded with a tangled mess of red and yellow threads that solidified and became true flame. It was a fire that feed on nothing but his frustration, and he had a plenitude of that. He hated walking by the human pens and it was the only place Noishe could properly… tend the needs of his mortal form.

"You better damn well evolve into your next form soon." Kratos hissed to the empty room. Kratos' exercise of talking to himself was a futile attempt to retain some of his mortality. It was all an act, a mere reminiscence, a re-enactment of his mortal habit of addressing the person who wasn't there. When he'd been human he had talked to himself or to others not there in some vain hope that they'd hear him, now he just did it to remember that he used to have habits and wasn't a mana consuming machine of Yggdrasil's make.

He threw the collar and leash upon the bed and glared at the fire he had made with a mere word and gesture. And while his eyes stared at the writhing mess of salamanders his mind was looking back…

"_The Aeros' next form will run across the earth with the speed of the wind, forsaking wings for legs…"_

"_That bird… is going to turn into something else?" Yuan stared at Noishe, the hawk –no it appeared Noishe was actually a protozoan- coolly returned the favor._

"_Indeed." The elf elder's lips curled slightly into a mocking smile he favored the collection of half breeds and human filth that had dared have a Protozoan with them. "All know this."_

"_I thought Noishe was a bird…" Mithos stared at the green hawk that was perched on Kratos' shoulder. Noishe preened his wing than turned to stare at Mithos. Slowly the hawk crossed his black-brown eyes._

"_Noishe, be polite." Kratos mutter absently, tapping the hawk firmly on the back of his head. Squawking in indignation at the accusation-despite the fact Kratos was correct- the avian shaped being flapped his wings then settled down after a bit with an annoyed cooing sound._

_The elf stared at Noishe, stared at the human and his jaw tried to dislocate itself from his face._

"_Sir," obviously having a green bird on your shoulder elevated you from "human swine" to "sir" for some strange elvish reason. "The Protozoan is a holy being, an embodiment of life and change, speaking to such a holy being in such a callous and crass manner as if he were your inferior is the greatest sacrilege…"_

_Kratos stared at the elf, once he wouldn't have been able to follow that thought to its end, the long words would have baffled him to no end. Months of Martel's patient tutelage had remedied that though._

"_Sacrilege to your faith," Kratos fondly tweaked the avian's tail feathers, and the elf looked morally outraged. "Not in mine, and worshiping him would be impractical for the grounds of our partnership."_

"_Partner…" The Elf sputtered. "Human you don't deserve to be in the presence of this holy…"_

_Noishe screeched, flared his wings, and tightened his talons grip into Kratos' shoulder._

"_I think Noishe has a few objections to you sticking a hood on him and taking him as your own Elder." Martel chuckled, "more then a few." _

"_Noishe…" Kratos hissed. "I would like to have a solid shoulder, not fragments of ground up bone…" _

_Folding his wings Noishe shifted and then loosened his grip. The elf was looking like he was having a few problems breathing. As if to rub it in that he liked humans and would have nothing to do with elves Noishe began to preen his chosen partner's wild hair and coo._

"_Aww, that's so sweet." Martel chuckled. "Noishe must really like you Kratos."_

"_What is he… doing?" Mithos whispered._

"_Preening, think of it like bird kisses." Martel explained to her "baby" brother._

_Mithos of course flaunted his immaturity by snickering and Yuan joined him._

"_Kind of hard to appear all tough and strong with a bird kissing you, isn't it Kratos?" Yuan chuckled. "Will you two be getting married?"_

_The cooing stopped and Noishe's beak snapped closed, neatly scissoring through a lock of Kratos' hair so that it fell from the human's head. Slowly the Protozoan shifted and glared at the blue haired half-elf. With a screech Noishe fluttered from Kratos' shoulder and landed on Yuan's head, tugging on talons full of long silky blue locks and pecking at that thick half-elven skull._

"_Get it off!" Yuan screamed, bringing his hand up to swat Noishe away. Mithos and Martel both came down with the giggles and after being in countless grim battles and weeks of hunting demons Kratos wasn't going to be so cruel as to deny them their entertainment. The human only smirked as Yuan screamed for help. Kratos crossed his arms in front of his chest as he watched the show. Yuan ran around in circles trying to get Noishe off, much to the human's disappointment the half-elf cut the entertainment short by running headfirst into a rather thick looking tree and knocking himself out._

Not able to laugh -he'd lost that ability long ago- Kratos settled for a cynical smirk to curl his lips. As an Aeros, Noishe had been a brilliant ally. His avian form had made the protozoan an unmatched scout, a decent fighter, and a skilled messenger. Despite the three month span of having to feed him bits of ripped up rat and pushing him off small rocks and trees to get him flying… It had been worth it to ignore Yuan's urging to de feather and cook the protozoan. It would -Kratos decided- be worth it to endure the intensive care that Noishe's current incarnation demanded. As a wolf certainly the Protozoan would be an excellent fighter, and with a little lying or even the use of dye Kratos could probably have the Protozoan join him in the upcoming Regeneration journey. Much easier to explain or sneak a dog into a inns common room then a hawk, people got edge with a raptor that was so tame, but with a dog almost anything could be passed off as training.

And despite how much he hesitated to admit it… it would be nice to be with someone who he could trust completely, someone who could watch his back, and someone he could honestly talk to.

Even if that person couldn't talk back yet.

X

"What is it with you and women? If I were at all like Maverick you know you would be in trouble don't you?"

Noishe cracked an eye open and greeted the "Desian's" whispered words with a yawn. The protozoan was sprawled over the sleeping Anna's belly, the woman even in slumber had a hand around the small dog shaped creature and held the "animal" in a protective embrace. Noishe's small legs dangled at least an inch from the floor, his dreamy fogged brown eyes cleared and he whined at Kratos' reference to their womanizing traveling companion four centuries dead.

"Whine?"

Kratos sighed, folded his wings so that they looked little more then a feathered sapphire hued cloak of several overlapping segments.

"I was busy… the monsters around the ranch…"

Noishe nodded, waged his tail, and winked. He obviously enjoying the fact that his small form kept him out of the fighting, he also seemed to be enjoying the fact he could rub that fact in to his immortal companion.

"Indeed." Kratos let his lip curl, and knelt at the human's side who –despite having a cot in a small closet made room- had fallen asleep on the floor.

The woman's long chocolate brown locks spilled out behind her, one hand rested by the protozoan, the other hung limp at her side. Questioning defiant black eyes were closed, and without the permanent scowl she wore when he was about she seemed little more then a child. Anna was asleep, out cold, comatose, dead to the world, and nothing short of an earthquake, battle, and hurricane all rolled up in one would wake the woman up. Kratos had made sure of that, deepening her sleep with a spell. He wanted no interruptions for this strenuous task.

"Why pick this woman? Why every time you pick a woman for this? The last five were women and do you know the rumors that are circulating because of this?"

Noishe rolled his eyes and rolled over so he was on his back and whined.

"I am not giving you a belly rub while you are…" Kratos flushed. "Lying there…"

The tail thumped and those brown eyes went wide so the "puppy eye" face was forefront and ready to plow through Kratos' mental defenses.

"I…" Kratos gritted his teeth and just told himself it was like bad odds, you drew your blade and went head first and trusted the gods. "I am sorry."

Noishe's tail stopped waging, the protozoan's mouth sagged open and he stared at Kratos in total shock.

"I… was being a sarcastic ass to you and I should have listened or rather tried. Is what's bothering you an issue now?"

Noishe bobbed his head up and down.

"I… packed your… board. When we left Derris Kharlan I brought it." Kratos sighed, hiding his face with one hand, this admitting you were wrong was hard and had he been able… Well he wasn't able to feel emotion anymore, or at least not feel strong emotion, but had he been human he'd have been embarrassed. "The letter board, if it's pressing…"

WhatKratos would do to keep his last friend, his last ally, was a simple question to answer.He'ddoanything, face pain, torture, shame... even admit that he was wrong. Because without Noishe -wellYggdrasil would be right-Kratos would be nothing more then a Mercenary iwth a blood seeped past. And it was not Kratos' will to fad into that role, to become as he was before Martel had saved him, had saved them all...

Noishe hopped down from his perch and decidedthe issuewas so pressing that he'd beat Kratos to the door and start whining.

As Kratos set up the small marked wooden tiles on the floor -so Noishe could go to each one and tap it with a paw- Kratos had to admit how lucky he was. Noishe had not abandoned him, not yet. It was only a matter of time but until that time ran out... Kratos would hold onto every second with desperation being his strength. Noishe went to the first letter, and being what he was Kratos would not need to take notes.Knowing that, tollerating that for some unknown reason, the protozoan padded to another tile on the end of the row.

It would be time consuming, a trial of patience and temper if Noishe said something that annoyed him, but he'd endure all three and so much more to keep his last friend at his side.


	6. Dog Lessons

A/N: The only times I have to write nowadays are during my "break" shifts at work or unholy early hours in the day after my job, that's why thing have been going so slowly lately. Having at max an hour to write a day it's putting a limit to what I can do. Shards chapter first half is complete, I'll have the second as soon as I can, till then I'll tide you over with more ICG? Enjoy, Kasan.

Is Cupid Green?

Dog lessons

Running a hand through his auburn locks he sighed. There was a noise, a squeaky gurgle that ended in a high pitched whine. Slowly, sure of his emotions, he opened his night shard eyes. The message had not changed, nor had the messenger.

"Whine?"

_Thump thump,_ _thumpa, thump_

Like a third heartbeat in the room the fluffy tail thumped against the wooden table. Resting on the thread that wound around and between a mess of slender steel poles were letters of an ancient language. They were small tiles, marked by small teeth, as they had been slipped on over the wires, he stared at the few syllables, only basic words could be spoken, for if he were to have tiles for every phonic compound and conjugation of the angelic language he would have a second carpet and a blanket of tile upon his bed.

"You have never protested before." His voice was as always cool, dispassionate, distant, but there was a ever so slight hint of steel under it that made Noishe's small form shiver.

"Whine!"

Noishe went behind the stand, from each letter he went, wrapping teeth around it's base and pushing up. With a click each tile went and Kratos watched as they fell upon the wood, he winced at the noise, but then every noise -even his own heartbeat- was hard on his ears today. That was why he was avoiding the human under his roof, and why Noishe was trying valiantly to walk on the tips of his paws and remain as quiet as he could. A few dragged tiles and clicks later Noishe slipped a few letters so that the small nick in each one caught the appropriate string. Kratos stared at the new message in mild shock. Being a Seraph denied him the ability to have his mouth sag open or any other overt displays, so he only rose an eyebrow and stared for a fraction of a second longer then he normally would.

"Mer ne rehai nu asu-rehaiin." Read the runes.

"And what truth do you feel your eyes denied you that you see now?" Kratos murmured, absently taking the same stance Mithos would with him when he had a problem with some policy of Cruix's.

"Tor'alla"

"Everything?" Kratos, frowned. "That's vague, specify."

"Har'cra, Silva'sill, Shadis'tall, H'Emodis..."

"Slavery, cruelty, torment, hate," The seraph rose an eyebrow. "Such are always the consequences of war Noishe. We were both involved in one of the most vile wars our world has ever seen, you should know that by now."

"Whine bark!" Noishe protested and Kratos patiently waited until the anger wound down so that the Protozoan was steady enough to march to the tiles knock them down and put them up with a few others.

"Ne, nu Kharlan H'e'taillra ust'iae."

"I guess the words 'son of a front line soldier' mean nothing then? Perhaps for your last form's keen sight you did not see." A faint hint of annoyance crept into Kratos' voice, a mere sliver of anger gathered in his soul. "The horrors of the campaign life, of being a mercenary, I certainly remember it well enough and if you'd like to be enlightened..."

"Ayei, contro clen."

"Compared to what?" Kratos, rumbled. "Are you saying that this "ranch" system can not be compared to the Kharlan war, that because they exist millennia apart they are incompatible?"

Noishe bobbed his head.

"You forget Noishe, though time has changed we deal with the same players, the same board."

Noishe sharply shook his head and growled his squeaky little growl in protest, Kratos did not need to see the protozoan go to the "ne" tile and put it in place to know just how deeply his friend disagreed with him.

"It is simple Noishe, very simple. There are humans, half elves, and elves, all hate each other and until the idea of peace actually crosses their minds in their own lands we can't let Tethe'alla and Sylvarant interact. The ranches pose a hollow threat, take only the decrepit and worthless in all society and..."

Kratos reached out to stroke the Protozoan, but the dog shaped being squirmed away from his touch. Blinking Kratos stared in an interesting mix of both hurt and surprise at Noishe. The pain left him and only bafflement held him when the Protozoan stared at him with eyes brimming with pity as say… some maiden's eyes would brim with tears.

Noishe picked up only a handful of pieces and than hopped from table to chair, then from chair to floor. Paws muffled by the carpet the Protozoan went to the door.

Kratos -as habit dictated- let him out and closed the door. He sat at the chair that he honestly would never need to use, that he only kept in the room so that Noishe could get to the table and his "board". Setting his elbows on the table his palms made a roost for his head, his fingers tangled in his wild auburn hair as he read the five words.

"Ust-yar' Hyameni'' Mithos yashi."

"You are human, Mithos lies."

Basic words that if true bellied a hard bitter truth. Kratos snarled, pushed back the chair and rose his hand, as if to bring it down upon the offending words. His anger though drained out of him, and he stood staring at the words as if transfixed. Growling, shaking himself the Seraph turned from them, but for his mind that would never forget, that could never forget, there was no sanctuary for him. So, though he turned away, it would only be by complete denial that he could suppress the idea that this all had been a lie.

X

"Whine..." Noishe came into the main room ears drooped, eyes sad. Anna didn't think about it, she dropped the cleaning rag in the bucket half filled with water and went to him. He tried to perk up when she petted him, but obviously something was wrong.

"You don't need to act happy around me when you aren't." Anna soothed, and Noishe let out a gusty sigh that was a few sizes too big for him. Had she not of been holding him he might very well had blow himself across the room.

"Whine bark..." Noishe grumbled, leaned against her, his tail for once limp at his side.

"I wish I could understand you sometimes, it's almost like you want to talk."

Noishe winced at her words? Impossible, he was just a dog after all, he couldn't be that smart. She petted him and firmly forgot about the animal's almost human response. After a bit Noishe seemed to lose his gloom and brighten a little, but whatever was bothering that little fluff filled skull was obviously sticking around despite her best petting tactics. She frowned, considered distraction, play was an obvious option but well you had to be in the mood to play and Noishe obviously wasn't. Then she had it, she grinned and the dog's whine almost sounded confused.

"I think you need some puppy lessons Noshy, and a new look so that they'll have more impact."

"Whine?" There was a faint hint of fear in the mind green dog's eyes now.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Grinning evilly as she saw a perfect way to get back at her "master" and put Noishe in better humor all at once.

"Now the trick is the eyes." Anna began her lecture as they went into the bathroom. "You have to get them wide and you have to put a kind of waver in your whimper."

"Whiiine?"

"Begin with a more firm note and then break it up at the end, like you're going to start crying."

Noishe bobbed his furry head, both his ears pricked forward as he absorbed ever word of her lecture with eager green fuzz tipped ears.


	7. Immaturity

Is Cupid Green?

"N.. Noishe?" Kratos stared down at his companion who looked up at him with wide pleading eyes. And none of the pleading came from those well drilled in lessons. Sitting in a pool of soft silk green locks the Protozoan whined, a glossy pink patch hung between his ears where his tuft should have been.

"WHINE!"

Noishe had no need to "act" heart broken, nor did he have to fake the breaking of his voice at the last note.

From the other room Anna's evil laughter caught the Seraphim's ears.Fury blazed in him, fully human rage that was not at all fettered by his angelic nature. This act was a humiliation, a malicious move against one of his oldest friends, his hand snapped over the hilt of his sword and for one moment had that woman actually been in the room instead of safely (or marginally safely as the door wouldn't have been too much of a problem due to his strength) behind a few inches of steel he would have taken matters in his own hands there and then.

"Whiiiineee!" Noishe bawled, his brown eyes wide, his ears had been pinned back with a length of cloth -a shred length of rag perhaps- and it made those warm pools of brown-black nearly double in size. Tears leaked out from the corners of his eyes and Noishe howled mournfully, despite his grief one paw pinned down a patch of the green tresses and the raw hope in those eyes...

Kratos felt something wrench in the vicinity of his heart at the realization he was going to have to dash all that hope.

"Ene mereth coiuinin." Kratos murmured, scooping up the small protozoan in his arms. "I'll see what I can do."

Leaning against Kratos' chest Noishe whimpered.

X

About half an hour later Noishe let out an ear splitting scream and ran from Kratos' room. The Seraphim sighed, watched his "pet" slither through the partially open door and had to wonder for a second if it's next form would be reptilian. Alright magic had failed, but certainly binding the hairs via wax and sticking it on the protozoan's head couldn't have been that bad of an idea...

"Oh Noshy... what in Martel's name cooked that little head of yours!"

Kratos winced, then his anger surged through him like a molten tide and burned away his guilt. To his surprise he found himself out of his quarters and stood framed in the doorway, his dark eyes black with anger. Had he been thinking he might have actually put the candle on the desk, left it behind. Anger though tended to kill all thought. So it was without any sense he had stormed out of his rooms and into the hall the primitive sylvarant means of illumination on hand. Spotting him Anna's demeanor went ice cold, it went so cold in fact that had he been able to feel heat he might well have been shivering.

"Well that answers my question." She spat.

"Really, because you've left so many of mine unanswered." Kratos purred, his voice loaded with quiet menace.

She either was the stupidest or bravest woman -Kratos was going with stupid at the current moment- he'd ever met because she had the gall to look him straight in the eyes and begin to tell him off. So it was his fault was it, that he couldn't feel heat, that he had accidently singed the protozoan? He gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into fist ordering himself not to hit her, despite the fact it would effectivly shut her up. The last woman he'd hit had been Martel, and it would be the last. He'd sworn it and only his loyalty to his deceased companion kept him from acting on the alluring fantasies of both of his hands around the brown haired woman's throat.

"If there is any blame in this situation Ms Anna," Kratos whispered, "it is shared between us both. Who, might I ask, preformed the mutilation of my companion's hair?"

"Muti-what?" Anna stared up at him blankly and Kratos' rage dissipated at her all too real confusion. Then something dark and cruel flickered to life in his mind and lit in his eyes. Noishe whined in protest, knowing that look all too well.

"Mutilation; to scar, to flaw, to cause injury upon." Kratos put a slight sneer into his tone. Allowing his eyes slid to mere slits, he tilted his head ever so slightly to the side. "It is my hope that such advanced words as scar and injury do not allude you host body A012?"

Flushing in shame and anger the woman gritted her teeth and he knew one more word, one more barb and he'd probably have a fight one his hands. Kvar must be losing his touch if someone this spirited had made it through his ranch, certainly Forcystus too was losing his edge as well. It must be old age creeping up on the two cardinals, he only knew that senility was the only excuse Yggdrasil would accept from the two of them when he gave his report over this... mishap.

"Prepare to find someone else, anyone else." Kratos spat, locking eyes with the startled Protozoan. "And be ready to do so in a few hours. There is paperwork I must fill out to have you transferred back to your cell Ms Anna, if you'll excuse me I'd like to get to doing it."

"Fine by me bastard."

"I'm glad we understand each other so well." Kratos hissed, bowed mockingly to the woman then turning on his heel he stormed past her...

"Whine!" Noishe almost screamed in protest.

Flexing his fingers Kratos exerted control over his anger. Having not felt rage of this magnitude in so long however it seemed harder then he recalled. Taking a deep breath he looked once over the edge of the violet shoulder pad that topped his sparrow tail cloak.

"Nu, ne nu Noishe, mer-iea stea."

"Howl!"

"It's final!" Kratos snapped. "Grow up and learn that because you actually might want something that doesn't mean you are going to get it!"

Even if it was something so simple as running the length of a steel sword through about half of the Desians of this ranch and then perhaps turning the blade on a certain woman in his company...

Some other day perhaps he'd get the opportunity, until then he had forums to fill out. It was the first set in a long while that he was actually going to enjoy doing.

X

Noishe whined and actually cried when the Desian's came. Shame what ever his name was missed the sight, it might actually have moved him to some shadow form of pity. But then considering that stone heart of his it probably wouldn't have...

"Ya've packed on a lot of weight haven't you bitch?" One of the guards hit her with the handle of his crossbow because she wasn't moving fast enough it seemed.

Anna only smiled slightly at the man's stupidity even as she put her hands over her new 'belly'.

"We'll sweat it off ya soon enough." Another guard leered, "you were a pretty thing in the cells, I bet a few weeks you'll be just as you were."

Still Anna only smiled, her plans, set in stone nothing could stop her from escaping now.

She passed through steel sheathed halls, past the floating glaring eyes that ran along the sealing on steel paths and shed red light that unpleasantly stung her on passing. Even as they dragged her to the courtyard, there tight grip on her arms leaving bruises she smiled, and they muttered amongst themselves she was a lunatic. Those few in the court yard, one woman from Luin in particular who had a nodding acquaintanceship with Anna, knew that look and that the images of tree branches hitting the back of steel sheathed skulls was running through the girl's head.

They tossed her in the dusty court yard like so much refuse, and still Anna grinned, the prisoners around her looked at her in anger, disgust. Ignoring them she lifted up the front of her tunic. The knapsack stuffed with food and water skins fell free at long last and there were hints of smiled on every one's face.

"Come on guys." Anna's lips curled into a smile, though there was for a heartbeat a flash of pain in them for their show of distrust. "I never forget, no matter what."

Unlike a certain "lord" who had seemed to have forgotten long ago that he was human, but then that was him and he wasn't her. She wasn't a monster like he was.

She took a lot of comfort in that fact.

X

There were two days straight of screaming, during those days when he finally realized what Noishe was going to be doing he filled both food and water bowls to near overflowing then shut the door to his private quarters. Fishing out a pair of earmuffs that he kept for the sake of disguising his nature in the winter -why in Origin's name he's allowed Yuan to talk him into buying the pair of fluffy red ones was beyond him, they probably were both bored out of there minds that century or something- he snapped those over his ears and let Noishe scream himself voiceless. It was hard, hard because despite the earmuffs he could still hear the shrieks of anger, and it was hard to hear the agony in that voice, still he ignored it best he could and managed to actually clean off his desk.. Kratos opened the door after a few hours of pure silence only to find the Protozoan sprawled out on the floor, eyes closed, drying tear tracks run down the canine's face. Noishe had -by the looks of it- literally passed out from pure exhaustion. Despite the fact that Noishe had annoyed the Hell out of him for the last few days he picked up the sleeping Protozoan and lay the small creature on the couch. He padded from living room to kitchen and filled the empty food and water bowls. Duty done he stood, spent one moment staring at the small being on the couch, tomorrow Noishe would understand, tomorrow Noishe would forgive him. He just had to wait for tomorrow to come, that was all.


	8. Friction

_Hey guys/gals,_

_ICG is slowly being worked on… I've been on a Shards/ICG hiatus for a while. I haven't given up… I've just been having a heck of a time getting to a computer to write on, and also concentrating on my work's been hard lately for various reasons. I re-wrote my notes for ICG and I'm getting back to work on this story. It'll be slow in coming, but it's coming along. I want them to just deal with each other, and I'm making some dynamic (besides hate and indifference) between Kratos and Anna. It's not very nice, language kinda borders on Mature here… but when you have that much anger it has to be expressed, and both these characters are very passionate emotional people._

_Kasan Soulblade_

Chapter Eight

Friction

"Her."

Anna opened her eyes and stared at the auburn haired man in white and the black clad Desians. For a moment she thought she was in the past, in that line of sullen faced women, she half expected Noishe to be sitting on her toes to indicate that he was choosing her. There were no other women; or rather they were cringing in their cells, staring with sleep glazed eyes at the Desian's and Cardinal who had barged in amongst them at…

Anna squinted at the time piece, she couldn't read the numbers, they didn't mean anything really, but the picture that changed to show the position of the sun. Since it was way on the bottom she guessed that it was probably really late at night. The yawning, sleepy looking Desian's only confirmed the lateness of the hour.

She stared at them, mutely conveyed her hate with a glare, and then rolled over. She curled away from them, wrapped her arms around her and glared at the shadowy steel wall.

"We all know you're awake, Ms. Anna." The auburn haired Cardinal growled. "So why don't we cut through all the childishness and you get up and come along quietly?"

"Go to Hell."

"Inferior being, when the Cardinal gives you an order…" There was the sound of a whip being pulled from its holster on a belt, the all too familiar thud of heavy leather hitting steel floor. "You do as he says, or else."

"Or else what? You'll come in, drag me off, and whip me? You do that every morning anyways." Anna shrugged, ignored how her back stung from the motion. "Your "else" sucks, nothing you do to me makes me scared, so why should I do anything you say?"

"You bi-"

"Enough." The Cardinal stared at her, looked through the bars of the cage, his lip curled in one corner to make a dark, bitter, smile. "Give me the key to her cell and then leave us alone."

"Sir, she's a feisty one, normally we need three of the boys to get her to do _anything_…"

"Are you assuming I can't take care of myself?" Kratos rumbled, his black eyes flashing with a glint of humor. "She can fight all she wants; she'll do as I say, even if I have to break bones to get her to do it."

Despite herself Anna cringed at the bland, indifferent tone Kratos used. He might as well have been noting the weather for all his passion. Even Kvar, with his dark animal lust that he satiated by hearing his prisoners shriek and beg for mercy, was more human then Kratos in that moment. The Cardinal in Luin's torture was preferable to the cool distant dismemberment that Kratos so casually promised.

And it wasn't his words that made it a promise; it was the tone, the cold dead tone that made such a horrible promise into an upcoming reality.

Even the Desian looked a little sick as he handed the small silver card and Kratos. When the auburn haired Cardinal made it clear that he was being dismissed the half elf in black barked at his partner to come on, something about checking sector R 24 or something….

"Ms. Anna-" Kratos slid the card key into the slot alongside her cell, his eyes never left her, his voice was as cold as snow. "-we may do this the easy way or the hard way. You may come quietly, no fighting, no smart ass comments, I'll take you to my quarters and you may go back to the task of tending my… pet as you were before."

Grimly Anna got to her feet, the look of cold determination on her face did not stir the white clad man, he showed no emotion, probably felt nothing.

"Get someone else." Anna snarled. "I'm not doing anything for you Desian, ever again, you hear me bastard?"

"He attacked the other woman I had assigned-" The auburn haired man murmured, taping in a few numbers on the key pad, acting as if he had not heard her response, as if she had agreed or something!

"Are you stupid? That's her problem, your problem, not mine."

"-then she tried to kill me, tried to slash my throat. Even you weren't _that_ stupid to try an assassination attempt.-"

"Wha-" Biting her lip, stopping herself from asking what "assassination" was, Anna gritted he teeth, glared up at the man. Even though she was on her feet he towered over her by a few go inches, enough so that she had to tilt her head up a little to look at him in the eyes. "What's that have to do with me? Do the words "Go to Hell bastard, never again" mean nothing to you?"

"-Interesting, so it doesn't bother you that I had to kill her?"

Anna winced; he looked up from the key pad to study her reaction, the device under his hand made a ringing sound and the door hissed. Kratos pulled open the door, a door that took two Desians to work open and close, he pulled it aside with an ease that made her shiver. He just as casually closed it behind him, turned his back on her. She wasn't crazy enough to attack him, so she took a few steps back all the while thinking how little good that was going to do her if he did decide she was going to be punished.

It was ironic how the place that was meant to be her Hell was in fact a sanctuary. The cell's thick and plentiful bars guarded her against the lashes of her Deisan tormenters, it was long enough so that she could curl against the back wall and no sword or spear could touch her. Now that he was inside the cell, sanctuary became prison, could become a torture chamber if she wasn't careful.

"That I broke her neck with my bare hands and shoved the carrion out a window, that doesn't bother you?"

"I wouldn't expect any different from a Desian." She hissed, clenching her hands into fists. "I wouldn't expect anything less from a monster."

Now he showed something, a small frown turned his lips down around the corners.

"I am not a Desian."

"Not all Desian's wear black."

She felt the steel wall against her back, and he had been following. Countering every one of her steps with one of his own.

"Fleeing is futile. You can try the door if you'd like, I left it unlocked."

She jerked at his words, and the man's lips curled into a mocking smile.

"Go ahead, it will prove… entertaining."

He stared at her, through her, and then seeing he wasn't going to attack she walked past him. She put some speed into it, almost ran past him, would have ran past him, but there wasn't enough room for her to run. Walking by him was like walking by an ice statue; even his eyes did not follow her. He stared at the steel wall, and then closed his eyes. He listened to her struggles, her curses, bare feet scrambled against steel as she tried and failed to make it move. Running, holding the bar, it was all in an attempt to force the cage open. And all she achieved was to tangle her long limbs amongst themselves, all she did was bruise herself with her exertion, waste her energy.

"Are you done wasting your time and mine?"

"Shut up, I'm not talking to you!"

She kicked the bars, snarled a curse as she hurt her foot.

By now the other women in their cells were watching Anna's struggles. She toned them out.

"You could just say "yes, I have decided to renew the agreement" and I would open the damn door."

"I said-"

"You forget who the Cardinal of this ranch is."

He turned his locks of red brown hair fell over his eyes. Still, she could feel his glare, could feel the quiet hostility, the annoyance.

"All the women on those cages would murder to get your position. An easy task, clean environment, relative safety, no torture, no back breaking labor, women would kill for your place. Possibly kill you."

Suddenly aware of the hostile scorning glares that were focused on her, Anna shivered. One white gloved hand closed over the bar over her shoulder, and Anna jumped in shock. She hadn't heard him, and he was less then a few inches away. He tugged on the bar, and with a screech the cell's door slid opened. With that noise, Anna knew that Kratos had been lying; the door had been locked… He stared at her; from the few breaks of that auburn screen Anna could catch glints of black.

"I offer you ease for the rest of your short life, with the company of my dog –whom you seem to like- certainly that is not such a hard thing to take?"

"A cage is a cage."

"Welcome to Hell, Ms. Anna, welcome to reality."

He bowed, a mocking gesture, inviting her to go first. Anna had to firmly repress the urge to snatch up the ends of his dusty blue cape and strangle the man with that stupid piece of cloth. To reach down and rip out fistfuls of those spiky looking hairs, the image of strangling him then snatching him bald played in her mind for a long moment, her hand's twitched in anticipation of doing just that.

She stepped out of the cell, and he looked at her, smug in his victory.

"So, how long _has_ Noshy been screaming at you?"

And she just as quickly turned victory to ash, and did so with a panache that made him wince. Kratos toyed around with the idea of not admitting that she was right, and then admitted that she had won this battle… for the moment.

"Five days straight."

"Missing your sleep?" Anna smoothly slipped another childish barb at him and Kratos winced again.

He had forgotten much of being human; scraped by as a Seraph by assuming roles and making mental scripts for most situations. He had found over the ages that he could barely function outside of those pre-arranged devices. By taking Anna back in, by enduring and refusing to beat her into submission –if he went that route Noishe would probably kill him- he ruefully admitted that he was going to be enduring a great deal of "lip" until he remembered how to counter it. Silence -his favorite tactic that fell into his "mercenary" persona- just wasn't going to work. The woman rained more abuse on him as they walked to his quarters, even twisted his glares and silences into agreement to her preposterous statements.

So far he –by Anna's bizarre book- had agreed his mother was some specie of slime that he was indeed a bastard, jerk, ass hole, Desian, and a few more modern profane terms that he was now acquainted with.

He quietly endured the abuse, pulled open the door and Noishe looked up from maiming one of Kratos' favorite mercenary cape to wag his tail and bound up to the woman.

"Damn it Noishe." Kratos snarled. "I said I was going to get her!" He went up to his maimed cape that was missing one of its shoulder pads. "Do you know how expensive these damned things are?"

"Who's been a good boy?" Anna crooned, scooping the puppy shaped Protozoan with a smile.

"Bitch." He growled, snapping his nastiest glare on the woman.

"Bastard." She countered, drawing the protozoan to her, as if to protect Noishe from his "owner".

Noishe just sighed, gave Kratos a long look that said "apologize". Ignoring the puppy shaped being the Seraph let the fabric fall.

"I do hope you know how to sew Ms. Anna, because everything he's damaged you will be fixing."

"I'm an accomplished maker of leather armor, helmets, and shields, I know how to sew." Anna sniffed.

He raised an eyebrow, that was not in her record, but knowing her sullen silences and perchance for sarcasm he wasn't too surprised by that.

"Stop boasting and get to work, oh and you'll need to clean half of the garments and pillows as he soiled them."

"Noishe!" Anna protested, the protozoan looked rather guilty.

Huh… guilty that Anna had to clean up after him, not at all bothered that Kratos had done so…

"My… dog-" Kratos growled, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. "-if you'd be so _kind_."

"Whine!" Noishe looked up at Anna, his eyes wide with terror. The "dog" shook his head so much that the tuft of returning fur nearly fell out.

"You will start your task tomorrow; I want it all done by noon. If it is not done, you will be whipped."

"You said no torture, you promised!" Anna growled.

Noishe's squeaky growl of agreement made Kratos check a sigh. Gnashing his teeth the Seraph tried to think of some way to manipulate her, to force her. Now that his words (and the possibility of Noishe howling if he broke his promise) had stripped him of any ways to manipulate her he was with a boulder to his back, a regiment of Sylvarant spell casters at his flank picking away at his sanctuary, a regiment of Teteh'alla's finest cavalry charging his front.

As the silence stretched between them, a glint of something flashed in Anna's brown eyes. He was not so lifeless as to forget what satisfaction was, and he groaned.

Anna just laughed as she realized just how powerless he was to leash her in.

"Origin, damn it!" Kratos snarled

Noishe wagged his tail, a smile curling his snout up, his bright red tongue lolled out in doggish laughter.

"I'll get it done when I feel like it, and I'll set my own pace." Anna smirked. "If you want it done faster you're just going to have to do it yourself. Don't worry, I won't be too slow about it, after all, it's bound to smell horrible if it waits too long."

She scratched the Protozoan's fuzzy head, a smile cutting a white path across her face ear to ear.

Snarling a few expletives in Angelic, Kratos turned on his heel and made his way to his quarters. Anna's laughter filled the room behind him. Looking at the bed covers, at the pillows, he wrinkled his nose as the smell of dog urine and worse hit him full in the face. Then his grimace faded, he grinned. Opening his door with a word he picked up the mattress, shoved it out into the hall. It fell over with a heavy thump that alluded to a Tethe'allan steel spring mattress rather then the feather mattress that those of Sylvarant favored. The blankets swiftly followed, they almost flew from the door and fluttered like birds that found a perch on the lopsided bed. Soggy pillows smashed onto the carpeted floor with a satisfying "squelch". Looking out into the hall that blocked his room from hers he was a little surprised that she'd actually crept to the door to look at him in complete shock.

"Are you out of your _mind_!"

He went to the closet, ripped it open and stared at his mess of maimed capes. Noishe had spared none of them, had even gone so far as to _go_ on one of his Cruxis uniforms and to slash up his mercenary uniforms with his small claws.

Kratos pulled down the lot of them, leaving a multitude of swaying metal hanger to shiver at the speed their newfound emptiness had descended. He was surprised that when he turned on her a smile was on his face. He threw the bundle at her, she squeaked, ducked out of the way. Still chuckling, he bent down and picked up the pieces of uniform, undergarment, and socks that had not made it outside of his room.

"You are _insane_! Crazy! Moon Touched!" Anna screamed from the somewhat questionable safety of some point further down the hall. She was away from his door and the projectiles she expected to erupt from that door.

He walked to the door, arms filled with a light burden; he turned to look at her. Her long brown hair framed her heart shaped face. That face, was red, from disgust, embarrassment, or what he wasn't too sure. The flush on her cheeks made her brown eyes seem darker, almost black, and he smirked. She might wear little more then rags over her form, but she carried herself as bravely as any warrior. Certain that he was armed, that he could attack her with the remains of his garments, she stood her ground. The way she'd spread and locked her legs ever so slightly –much like a soldier would brace themselves in the trench before the charge of the enemy- marked that no matter what he threw she'd dodge and probably come after him if he dared attack.

"I am giving you incentive, Ms. Anna." He said coolly, and to hell with his expressionless act, he'd let her _see_ his satisfaction. "I am giving you incentive that –unable to beat you as is proper- will impact you. Clean, or deal with the smell and filth."

"Oh, that was really smart, where are you going to sleep? Oh and how are you going to get out of your room in the morning after I prop that-" She stared at the large mattress and made a circling motion with one hand, as if to surround the word she was striving to express. "-thing against your door?"

"I have a window and a balcony." He smirked. "I'll climb down, and I've slept on worse places then the floor. Good night, Ms. Anna."

He then dropped the last of his garments on the ground and slammed his door.

"Goddess. Damned. Bastard." Anna hissed, clenching her hands into fists as he lazily had just snatched victory from her.

The door opened and she glared at Kratos as he poked his head out to smile at her, his white gloved hand slipped out from the sanctuary of the room. He laid a small bottle, a spool of white and black thread, a few bars of soap, and number of cloths at the front of the door, then as an after thought pulled off his long fingered gloves of snow white and tossed them to the floor.

"Get to work, host body."

The door closed again, and then hissed as he used one of those Desian lock things to make sure she stayed out.

"I hope when you climb down tomorrow you fall, you bastard!"


End file.
